Queen Elizabeth HAS ARRIVED HOME! Cunard Queen Elizabeth arrives in Southampton, UK!

On 24 July the Cunard cruise ship Queen Elizabeth returned to her home port in Southampton, having last been in the British port on 3 November 2019. Queen Elizabeth last departed Southampton on a voyage to Australia, arriving in Fremantle on 6 December to undertake an extended Australian season. Throughout December, January and February, the ship completed numerous voyages between Australian ports, as well as cruising to New Zealand. It was planned that Queen Elizabeth would then sail to Japan, to complete a series of Japanese cruises before repositioning to Alaska for the Northern Summer Season. Following this, Queen Elisabeth would return to Australia for the Australian Summer of 2020/21, However in February 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic interrupted the planned reposition to Asia, with Cunard announcing that the ship would remain in Australia between 8 March and 15 May. New voyages were released on February 21 2020, which featured two cruises to New Zealand as well as a circumnavigation of Australia. However most of these voyages were not to be – with Cunard entering the global cruise pause in Mid-March. Queen Elizabeth’s last voyage arrived in Sydney on 15 March where her last passengers left the ship. She spent several weeks anchored off Gladstone on the Queensland Coast. When the Australian Government implemented their cruise ship ban in April, the Queen Elizabeth departed Australian waters and sailed to Manila Bay in the Philippines. She remained here, part of an enormous cluster of cruise ships, until 26 June. During this time the ship undertook several short voyages to nowhere in order to maintain drinking water supplies and run critical mechanical machinery. Additionally, many non-essential crew were able to leave the ship by June to return home. I’ve covered the situation in Manila Bay in a previous video, which I’ve linked in the description – or click the I to watch it now. With no firm end in sight for ongoing cruise pause, the ship departed Manila Bay on 26 June, bound for her home port of Southampton. Queen Elizabeth sailed via Singapore where the ship was refuelled, and included a transit of the Suez Canal. Arriving back in Southampton on 24 July 2020, the ship’s remaining crew will now get an opportunity to set foot on dry land. The ship will likely join her fleet mates Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 at anchor off the coast of the United Kingdom. At the time of recording, Cunard do not expect to resume cruising with Queen Elizabeth until 23 November 2020. Additionally, Carnival, P&O Australia and Princess have extended the pause of their Australian voyages until 31 October 2020, while some lines – including Princess – have extended their global pause until December! As an update to my previous video Sovereign and Monarch have now been beached in Izmir in Turkey to commence scrapping. Oceana has been renamed Queen of the Oceans and has been sold to Sea Jet which operate ferries between the Greek isles. Additionally Carnival have confirmed that they have sold Fantasy and Inspiration though there has not yet been any announcement on who the buyer is. Links: Australian Cruise Ban: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09qsXmYMl9Y Manila Bay Situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QL1E6C4nto Images: My thanks to Patricia Dempsey. Referenced image of Inspiration is: Carnival Inspiration (1st Pic): Altairisfar (Public Domain): https://bit.ly/39phLlF #cruisenews #cruiseline #cunard